Knotted in Love

Part 15

“Thank you so much again for having me, Mrs. Singh.”

Alice says while she is in the backseat of the Singhs’ car heading back to the family house from the airport. It is almost the last-minute decision. Alice persisted. It wasn’t her intention to join a big Christmas party in Maine but Haseena made a solid argument about how things going far south with Jack and how her parents were on their hundredth honeymoon. Alice was down to a few choices and Maine was not a bad idea comparing to a Christmas alone or a Christmas at Kevin’s.

“Oh, dear. More people more fun. It is nice to have new faces at the party.” Pushpa responds cheerfully from the front seat. Her smile and her gesture are genuine. Alice has seen all these before and they are from Karishma.

“More people, yes. I’m not sure about the more fun part, mom.” Karishma argues and Haseena quietly giggles to that. Haseena is sitting in the middle of the girls and she tries to behave nicely. Although Karishma’s hand reserves its place on her thigh, both of her hands are secured on her own legs. Marriage doesn’t change the fact that two people in the front seats are Karishma’s parents and it is always uncomfortable to be touchy in front of them. “Haseena agrees.”

“It must be fun in its own way, Karishma.” Haseena tries to stay on both teams with her remark. The last thing she wants to do is to upset her in-laws. She still wants to impress them no matter what.

“Wait until you meet the council people and you won’t say that, baby.” Karishma taps on Haseena’s thigh and gets a cheeky smile as a respond. Karishma playfully pokes one of the dimples and bites her lips as she glances at Haseena’s lips. “You’re adorable.”

“Oh my god.” Alice says underneath her breath with a tiny smile on the corner of her lips as she looks out the window. “I’ll go insane if this goes on forever.”

Once they arrive at the house, Alice takes her time to enjoy the view and the house itself. She has seen pictures from Haseena before but seeing it with her own eyes is something else. This is exactly what she wants when she is retired; two-story house, the view of the ocean and a few family members hanging around during holidays. Karishma takes Alice on a house tour and introduces her to some of her extended family and friends before leaving her with Mikey. He offers to take Alice on a tour around the neighborhood since he has to pick up something for his mom anyway. They have already met once at Karishma and Haseena’s wedding so the awkwardness is instantly thrown out the window for the two who are naturally friendly.

Meanwhile, Haseena settles in Karishma’s bedroom. She put Alice’s luggage at the guest room down the hall before putting theirs by the closet. Her jacket and beanie are casually placed on the bed while she walks towards the window to admire the extraordinary view of the ocean. It has always been nice to be here although the fingers on her hand are enough to count the times of the visits. The atmosphere here is a little easier to breathe. She is letting her mind flying through the winter scenery when Karishma hugs her from behind.

“Hey.” Karishma whisper to Haseena’s ear and presses a kiss on her cheek. “Do you want to go out for a walk?”

“We can’t.” Haseena smirks and shows Karishma a piece of crumbled paper that she got on her way up to Karishma’s bedroom. “We’re invited to a tea party downstairs.”

Karishma takes the crumbled paper from Haseena and reads it. The handwriting is a mess and their names are misspelled. A couple of drawings are too hard to guess what they are but the intention is pure. “Aw. These kids are a pain.”

“Don’t say that. That’s not nice.” Haseena takes the paper back from Karishma and smiles to the drawing that she sees as a cup of tea. “It’s cute.”